Chinese, gymnastics, and glasses

With the start of the new school year comes afterschool activities (or in Ava's case, before school activities). Alex isn't home until about 4 everyday (4:30 when it's my turn to carpool), and once homework is done, there isn't much time for activities. However, I did sign him up for Chinese lessons (his choice) once a week, which he really enjoys. He has learned numbers, colors, a bunch of phrases and how to play mah-jongg. Alex also got glasses this fall and I'm including a picture of him in his new specs. Doesn't he look cute?

Last year, Ava got to watch Alex participate in a few activities and I felt guilty for not signing her up for anything (actually, she was in swimming but didn't want to do it after a couple of lessons). So, this year I signed her up for gymnastics and she loves it. She has also been more open to swimming so I signed her and Alex up for weekly lessons. My kids love the water and I think if they could they would be swimming everyday.

First days

I'm slowly but surely catching up with my posts. I've made it to the first day of school, so I'm only 4 months behind! Anyway, Alex started a new school the end of August. I decided to send him to the new charter school that was opening, thinking that he would learn more with different teaching methods. It was a hard decision as I loved his old school and he did really well there. Fortunately, Alex loves his new school; however, I don't love it quite as much. Oh well, we'll see how the rest of the year goes.


Ava started her second year of preschool after Labor Day. She is in the same preschool Alex was in and has the same teachers. She was excited for school to start and to make new friends. I'm excited for 2 1/2 hours to myself, three times a week!

Ava's 4th

Can you believe my little girl is now 4? I can't. My kids are growing up so quickly and I am often surprised by how fast time flies. Anyway, this year for her birthday, Ava wanted to play miniature golf and in the days (and weeks) before her birthday, she kept confirming those plans with me. Needless to say, she was a little excited. Finally, the big day arrived and in the morning we went shopping and my mom got her some new shoes (what can I say, she is a girl). We ate lunch at Subway (one of her favorite places) and then we went to play mini golf. It took a while for Ava to get the hang of the game but she had a fun time. Afterward, we had dinner at Applebee's (her choice) and then home for ice cream cake and presents. Happy birthday to our little nut!

Fun facts about Ava: favorite colors-pink, purple, and brown; favorite foods-oatmeal, cheese sticks, blueberries, hot dogs, fruit snacks; favorite place to eat-Subway; favorite activities-swimming, being read to. She loves Scooby-Doo, Dora, and Strawberry Shortcake. She loves animals-dogs, cats, and especially horses; she's definitely a mommy's girl and is never far from my side; she loves to help out around the house; she likes all the "girly" things-shoes, dresses, dolls but she also likes to play outside and get dirty (she informed me, "Mommy, I like the mud".). We had a bunch of frogs in our yard this summer and Ava had no problem picking them up, while her older brother refused to touch them. Ava is also one mean Uno player and usually wins when we play (and no, I don't let her win!).

Uncle Nolan's visit

My younger brother, Nolan, came out for a weekend visit in August. Unfortunately, it was the weekend of my triathlon and I couldn't do as much with him as I would have liked. However, the kids were super excited to have their uncle visit and kept him pretty occupied. Despite our lack of time, we were able to go out for a celebratory post-triathlon dinner and sneak in a short trip to Chicago. Hopefully, the next time he comes out, we will be able to hang out some more.

Triathlon!

The previous summer, I had a crazy idea to do a triathlon. I wanted to accomplish some sort of athletic feat but I didn't want to do a marathon (4 hours of running? no thanks). So I decided on a triathlon because it sounded just as impressive as a marathon but wouldn't take as long to do. The problem was that I didn't have a bike and hadn't actually swam (laps) in 20 years! I signed up for adult swim lessons late last fall, which helped me tremendously. I also discovered that I really enjoyed swimming. I didn't buy my bike until June, 2 months before my triathlon. I figured that the biking part would be easy...I didn't take into account that the tires on racing bikes are thinner than others making it harder to balance. I was a bit wobbly my first day out but thank goodness, it didn't take long to get used to the bike. The day of my triathlon arrived and I felt nervous but pretty prepared. I signed up to do a sprint triathlon, which is a 1/4 mile swim, 12.6 bike ride, and a 5k run and it was probably the most difficult thing, physically, I have ever done. During my run, I swore I would never do another triathlon. However, when I crossed the finish line and felt that huge sense of accomplishment, I thought that there may be more triathlons in my future.

Utah

When I was in college, I had the best group of friends. Seventeen years later, they are still some of the coolest people I know. We've all kept in touch over the years and have gone to each others weddings. This past July, my friend, Sarah, got married. It had been several years since we were all together (since the last wedding). It was a wonderful weekend trip, catching up and reminiscing with old friends.

Canada

Ok, so it's been a month or 2 or 5. I've been seriously slacking, I know, as this post is from our summer trip to Canada. I hope never to get this far behind again. Anyway, every July the kids and I go up to Canada to visit my mom and step-dad. Alex and Ava love going and were especially excited to be spending 2 weeks there instead of one. Since we had more time, we got to go on more excurtions. We took a day trip to Vermont and visited the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, where the kids got to see how teddy bears are made and then they were able to pick out a bear and make one themselves. Next, we visited the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory and took a tour to see how the ice cream was made. At the conclusion of the tour we were all given a sample. Really yummy!



We also went to the Botanical Gardens in Montreal and I wasn't sure how Alex and Ava would like it but they really enjoyed themselves. They really liked walking through the gardens and loved watching all the huge fish swimming around in the ponds.

We also went to the Parc Safari again this year. It's a fun place that the kids really love. We decided to go to the swimming area first and Alex and Ava must have gone down the water slide a million times. We went to the safari part towards the end of the day and unfortunately, by that time, most of the animals weren't hungry anymore. Alex and Ava were only able to feed a few animals but they still had a great time.

Alex and Ava went swimming a lot during our visit-at a friends' home, the local park, and even in my mom's koi pond! They had a fun trip and want to go back for a longer time next year.